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| AP / ESPN.com |
Alfalfa and Collinsworth on the call for NBC, with Bill Vinovich announcing penalties. The story there is that Vinovich is supposedly the favorite to referee Super Bowl XLIX. The same guy who butchered Rams losses in Carolina and San Francisco last year. Well, he did call a decent game the one Rams game he worked this year. Maybe he got contacts or something.
FIRST QUARTER
Patriots won the toss and deferred, and here we go. Jacoby Jones returns the opening kickoff to the 29. Joe Flacco gets plenty of time on first down and hits Steve Smith over the middle for 19. Not exactly the shutdown job I was expecting on him today. Screen dumpoff to Crockett Gillmore gets another 9.8. Took Baltimore about 30 seconds to get into Patriots territory. Still no rush at all, and it's Torrey Smith over the middle this time for 22. Ravens in the red zone already. And somebody named Kamar Aiken beats Patrick Chung badly on a rollout pass and runs through him inside the 5 for what appears to be Baltimore's first TD. Review takes a while but it holds up. Ravens 7, Patriots 0 Baltimore didn't even need three minutes to take a touchdown lead. After three quarters against Cleveland two weeks ago, they had three points.
No, the National Football League does not make sense. Why do I keep trying?
DANNY AMENDOLA puts the opening kickoff on the ground but it's recovered by Chris Jones, a DT, for New England. Brandon Bolden fakes Matt Elam out of his shoes and gets 11 on a screen. No-huddle for New England. Tom Brady throws high for Julian Edelman incomplete. They get Rod Gronkowski involved with a 6-yard hitch. AMENDOLA bails out a poor throw with a diving catch... NO. John Harbaugh should challenge that. Looks like the ball rolled on the ground to me. Harbaugh red flags it for our second review in five minutes. It's overruled as incomplete, New England is punting, and somewhere in California, Bill Simmons' sphincter is already tightening.
Ravens start at their 21 and little Justin Forsett immediately runs through D'o'n't'a'e' Hightower for 10. Very patient running and blocks by Kyle Juszczyk and James Hurst get him another 12 on a pitch left. Is New England going to stop a single Raven play today? Chandler Jones helps them out by jumping offside. Jamie Collins stuffs Juszczyk on a screen with a hit that makes Collinsworth vomit in the booth. Forsett up the middle for an easy 7 as the Raven line drives the Patriot line 5 yards off the ball. Jackass Steve Smith over the middle for 16 and a flex and a ball spin that should have drawn a flag. This looks like the Ravens scrimmaging 7-on-7. Slant to Marlon Brown for 14 down to the NE12, and Flacco has completed his first 8 passes. The Patriots actually force a third down before Jackass Smith embarrasses alleged Revis Island on a slant and makes a juggling TD catch. Ravens 14, Patriots 0
The Patriots are showing no sign of stopping anything Baltimore does. They're getting no pressure on Flacco; they're getting run over in the run game and they can't cover anybody, which I mistakenly thought would be one of their strengths.
New England needs to score here or we're looking at a blowout. Incomplete out route for Edelman, blanketed by Rashaan Melvin. Haloti Ngata stuffs LaGarrette Blount off right tackle for 2. Baltimore foolishly blitzes on 3rd-and-8, though, and leaves Gronk WIDE OPEN over the middle for 16. Brady next goes down the left seam to Gronk for 46, beating Melvin. Patriots have made a conscious effort to stretch the field and it paid off there. That puts them at the BLT14. Edelman down to the 1 on a post. Neither pass rush distinguishing itself so far. An awful, slow-developing handoff to Blount gets stuffed by MOSO! Brandon Williams at the 4. Nice play-call, Josh McDaniels. Edelman can't adjust to a pass behind him in the corner of the end zone on 2nd down. On 3rd-and-goal, though, it's the nimble one, Brady himself, stepping up and running it in. Stupid play call by Baltimore to drastically overload the RT side. That and a goal-line block by Edelman all but handed that to Brady. But at least we have a ball game again. Ravens 14, Patriots 7
On 2nd down, Forsett cruises for another 19 behind Marshall Yanda's diving block and his big WRs, out front in trips, pancaking Patriot DBs. I do not believe that secondary came to play today. Steve Smith is down with an injury as the quarter runs out.
SECOND QUARTER
Looks like Steve Smith took a knee off his ankle. 164 total yards for Baltimore in that 1st quarter. Steve Smith only sat out a couple of plays. Torrey Smith turns 3rd-and-6 into 3rd-and-21 after Brandon Browner baits him into a shove to the facemask. Classic Vinovich there - catch the second shove and not the first. Chandler Jones has started to ratchet up the rush on Flacco and forces a dumpoff that sends in the punting team.
Patriots take over at their 24. Brandon LaFell makes a sliding catch for 14. Edelman takes a short pass 13 across midfield. 13 more to Shane Vereen split wide. His defender fell, then Vereen faked him and C.J. Mosley defender out. Brady gets away with staring down a comeback to Vereen for another 6. Vereen runs left for another 6. Nice job by Nate Solder at LT to bury Chris Canty. Terrell Suggs blows a sack on 1st down, allowing a Brady throwaway. Timmy Jernigan tops that by shoving down Ryan Wendell at the line and sacking Brady back at the BLT30. Brady gets forever to throw on 3rd down but Suggs eventually beats Solder to make it back-to-back sacks that could have been 3 in a row. That sack put New England out of FG range; big play. Brady didn't like how he was taken down and tried to start a fight with Pernell McPhee, then bumped into and wildly gesticulated at Vinovich, and of course got away with it and even had Collinsworth making lame excuses for him, because he's Tom Brady.
Vinovich correctly calls the Patriots for taunting after a risky decision by Antoine Cason to snare a bouncing punt at the 5 that got him clobbered at the 10. That puts the Ravens at the 25. ANOTHER 12 for Forsett as Jeremy Zuttah and Kelechi Osemele push the Patriots around. He breaks tackles for another 5. Good pressure by New England finally induces an ill-advised screen pass that loses SEVEN. The Patriots are finally starting to generate some edge pass rush. 3rd-12, Devin McCourty gets away with blatant pass interference going through Owen Daniels. Some things apparently will never change.
Edelman scoots up the sideline with an 18-yard punt return to the NE32. He runs through three Ravens after a short pass the next play, loses the ball and is lucky to get it back. On 3rd-and-8, Brady again gets all night to throw and hits Gronk between FOUR Ravens for a 23-yard catch-and-run. Brady goes up top for Vereen, who draws illegal contact from Mosley. They convert another 3rd down with a slant to LaFell at the 15. From there, DANNY AMENDOLA takes a quick out and runs out of a terrible tackle by Elam and up the sideline for a TD!! Good for Danny. Ravens 14, Patriots 14 Brady's taking advantage of Baltimore's secondary and the Patriot pass rush is starting to affect Baltimore's passing game.
About 3:30 to go for Flacco from his 28. 5 to Torrey Smith. Forsett drags Chandler Jones for 4. WOW, an end-around to MICHAEL CAMPANARO? What kind of play-call is that? Rod Ninkovich did a great job shutting that down for a loss, along with the ageless Vince Wilfork blowing it up. That'll send the fashion model back in after the 2:00 warning.
Brady at his 28. They burn at least 30 seconds on a 3-yard out to Amendola, then get another 6 at 1:13. Bolden runs over Daryl Smith for a 1st down. Timeout stops the clock at 1:11. Brady hard-counts three times and gets Gronk to jump the 3rd time. You know, sometimes you should just snap the darn ball. At 1:03, despite a solid pocket, Brady underthrows Gronk by at least 5 yards with a terrible pass and Daryl Smith picks it off at the BLT43. That was not a clutch throw.
Daniels becomes Flacco's 10th different receiver for gains of 8 and 5, with an official face-planting himself at the end of the second catch. Ravens stop the clock at 0:37 at the NE44. Revis gets a 20-yard DPI for cutting off Steve Smith on a sideline route. Too much contact downfield, I'd have to agree. 5 more to Marlon Brown at 0:22. Drag route to Brown gets a 1st down at the 11 with 0:16 to go. Timeout #2, Ravens. Flacco should have at least two shots at it.
He only needs one, floating a TD pass to Daniels, beating Hightower and two other defenders in the back of the end zone. Ravens 21, Patriots 14 Hard not to enjoy the shot of Brady holding his head in his hands on the sideline after that score.
HALFTIME SHOW
Baltimore's rush has gotten to Brady a couple of times, but he's had all night to throw often himself. The Ravens started blitzing more before halftime and I expect that to pick up. Edelman and Amendola have got to start getting open for quickies to set up the big stuff. I think McDaniels was actually thinking the opposite direction in the first half. The Patriots have no running game, but it may be late to get that going. Just throw to Vereen instead; the Ravens haven't defended that yet.
Let's see if I can get caught up here in the 2nd half.
THIRD QUARTER
Amendola out to the 27. Also, never mind, cheerleaders; it's 19 degrees out, do keep your coats on. Brady hits MICHAEL HOOMANAWANUI for 4. Mosley gets away with brutal DPI against Gronk on 3rd down to swindle the Patriots into 3-and-out. Well, at least Vinovich's crew is consistent. Also, karma, Belichick, Karma.
Ravens at their 30; Hightower and Chung blow up a handoff to Forsett for no gain as I once again NAIL a halftime adjustment. Campanaro keeps the Ravens moving 14-yard diving catch. Pats may have figured out the running game, with Jones and Sealver Siliga stuffing another Forsett run. But it's Michael F. Campanaro sprinting off with a screen for another 16. You can't stiop Michael Campanaro, you can only hope to contain him. Flacco gets a week to throw and throws an idiotic deep ball for Juszczyk, who's blanketed by Collins and has to break up an easy INT opportunity. Ravens pick up a blitz but it still pressures Flacco into a bad throw incomplete on 2nd down. Tavon Wilson takes care of a short pass to Marlon Brown and the Ravens line up to go for it on 4th-6 at the NE36. Huh? Even the unlikely hard-count offsides won't help you here.
Baltimore blows a timeout but it was worth it. Torrey Smith burns Browner down the far sideline and makes a catch inside the 2 despite Browner running over him for a blatant and actually-called DPI. Smith then gets an inexplicable taunting call for doing the same thing they let Jackass Smith get away with every play, spinning the ball. Give me a break. Send Baltimore back to the 16.
Not for long. Forsett is left completely uncovered on a swing pass and scores an easy TD. Looks like Collins got duped by a crossing route. Ravens 28-14 Well, the over and the cover are looking great right now, and the thought of Bill Simmons crying in his Sam Adams makes missing the outright worth it.
Daryl Smith breaks up a middle pass for Vereen, so the Ravens were expecting my Patriots halftime adjustment. Nice. LaFell gets them 11. 16 down the seam to Illini Mike. 9 to Gronk on an out. Brady takes it up the middle himself for a first down at the BLT42. Ravens had 12 on the field anyway. Edelman lets a soft pass go through his hands but catches it with his knees for another 1st. Brady keeps clicking and hits Illini Mike down the seam again inside the 10. A penalty on the RAVENS BENCH moves the ball to the 5. Alfalfa says Harbaugh got it for coming way out on the field and makes a Dez Bryant joke. Well done, Albeno, well done. Baltimore brings a big blitz on 2nd-goal and pays for it when Gronk beats single-coverage by Will Hill on a slant. Ravens 28, Patriots 21 Nice tempo on that drive and continued lack of Raven pass rush.
Score one for the over. But the second game starts at 7:00? This game won't be close to done, will it? Collinsworth shows the Patriots used formation trickery to get Illini Mike open on his 2nd catch. Vereen declared himself ineligible on the right side while Illini Mike ran his route out of the LT position. Solder was at LG next to the center.
Shouldn't Vinovich have had to announce the ineligible receiver? No wonder Harbaugh was mad after that play. Officials enabling more Belichick shenanigans. Some. Things. Never. Change!
Dangerous throw for Daniels into a double-team, incomplete. Hightower stuffs a sweep for Forsett as the Pats have solved the Raven running game but good. Even so, they blow a timeout on 3rd-11. Flacco scrambles right and one-hops to Brown open at the sideline for a 3-and-out. Momentum-wise, this game has been a real pendulum.
Brady from his 30. Cross to Edelman for 9. Collinsworth explains New England is doing EXACTLY WHAT I SAID TO DO in my halftime adjustments. And I don't even own a hoodie! 10 more to Vereen. Collinsworth says, basically, (Ctrl-C) Just throw to Vereen instead; the Ravens haven't defended that yet. (Ctrl-V)
Right after that, TOUCHDOWN NUMBER TWO FOR DANNY AMENDOLA! It was a flanker option to former college QB Edelman, the Ravens bit on it completely, and Amendola was open five yards sprinting down the sideline for a 51-yard score. Ravens 28, Patriots 28 No mistake I hope the Patriots lose, but go Danny!
Nothing like a big gadget play to get the home crowd back into the game. Let's see how the Ravens answer. Holding on the kick return pushes them back to their 16. Forsett only gets a couple. Then, despite getting all night to throw on 2nd down, Flacco throws an awful pass for Torrey Smith into double coverage and an easy INT for McCourty. The expiration date may be up on the Flacco Mojo.
Pressure from Williams forces Brady to throw a pass away on 1st down, and I think Ngata got a hand on a poor pass on 2nd down that hit Gronk in the shin. Hill breaks up a pass behind Gronk on 3rd to get the Ravens a crucial stop. Terrible punt only makes the 20.
Forsett sweeps left for 5. Arrington holds him to 2 up the middle. 3rd-and-3, and oh, good grief. Flacco gets probably 8 seconds to throw, and Collins gets to Flacco for a sack/strip/fumble, but Revis held Steve Smith to kill the biggest defensive play of the game. Ravens keep it at their 32. Forsett bangs out 7 off the right side, then runs through Hightower for the 1st. The splendidly-named Fitzgerald Touissant goes up the middle for 4. His name would work the other way around. Ravens at midfield at the end of the quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
Boy, there have been a lot of crowd shots of really uncomfortable cold people tonight. THANKS FOR THE OUTDOOR STADIUM PROPOSAL, ST. LOUIS!
Forsett pops off a studly Osemele block on Collins for 8 and a 1st. He thumps out another 4. Love Gary Kubiak sticking with the run here. Short pass to Juszczyk leaves 3rd-and-1. Just when I praise Kubiak for sticking with the run, here's another pass, broken up by Collins, for Daniels. Ravens go for it on 4th down, and Juszczyk is wide open out of the backfield down to the NE25. Sweet call nominee there. Zuttah leads Forsett off the right side for another 6. Forsett's up the middle for another 10 off another nice turnout block by Zuttah. 1st-and-goal. Touissant up the middle for 3. Flacco throws a play-action pass into the front row, then Daniels can't pull in a catchable ball in the back of the end zone. Justin Tucker chips the Ravens ahead, but that feels like a missed opportunity Baltimore's going to regret. Ravens 31, Patriots 28
Patriots would surely take a nice scoring drive of their own here. Albeno points out they haven't even tried to run so far this half. 7 to LaFell, 10 more to Edelman on a square out. Brady nearly gets the ball stripped out the next play, but dumped off to Vereen for a 9-yard catch and run. The ball came out but replay makes it pretty clear he was already down. Vinovich agrees after review. 2nd-1 at midfield. Brady sneaks it for a couple. Amendola looks stopped on 3rd-and-6 but he breaks Melvin's too-high tackle for a 1st down at the 38. Illini Mike for 9 more. Brady is pecking the Ravens to death. 1st down to Edelman at the 24. Brady follows that by dissecting a Raven blitz pre-snap and throwing a perfect TD pass to LaFell, beating Melvin. Patriots 35, Ravens 31
5:13 left for Flacco. Another penalty on the kick return gives him poor field position at the 11. Juszczyk picks up a blitz and leaks out of the backfield for 11. Flacco gets forever to throw, rolls right and hits Brown on the sideline for 9. Forsett goes up the middle for the 1st. Jeremy Zuttah has been killing it tonight for Baltimore. Slant to Campanaro for 7. Suddenly the Ravens have turned into the Patriots on offense. 3:00 left, Hightower blows up a handoff to Forsett that goes for no gain. 3rd-3. A stack blitz over LT overwhelms Flacco but he is able to dump the ball at Forsett's feet to save the sack. Ball game coming up right here.
The Ravens just spent their 2nd timeout, so they'd better make this 4th down. And now New England calls timeout. What is this, a NBA game?!?!?
4-man rush doesn't get there as Flacco feathers one to Daniels down to the NE41. Clutch, clutch, clutch play on both ends at the 2:00 warning. This, by the way, is a great way to start a playoff weekend. Chandler Jones jumps offside. Flacco gets a long time again until Jones beats Hurst late, then rolls out and throws too short to Brown on the sideline. Whither Steve Smith?
Then, suddenly, ugh, send the Patriots to the AFC Championship. Flacco gets his millionth solid pocket of the night but still back-foots an ill-advised deep ball for Torrey Smith in double-coverage. Somebody called Duran Harmon came over from safety and essentially fair-caught an INT to put the game away. This is the coverage Janoris Jenkins and Rodney McLeod blew ALL SEASON, btw, if either one of them would like to watch this tape. And for the life of me I cannot figure what Flacco was thinking on that play.
The Patriots kneel all but :04 off the clock, giving Flacco a Hail Mary opportunity, but the Patriots swat that back out of the end zone for the win.
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| ESPN.com / Getty |
Despite Collins' excellent game defensively and Sebastian Vollmer's unheralded shutdown work on Elvis Dumervil, if you think RamView is not going to pick Danny Amendola (5-81) the player of the game in a game in which he scored 2 TDs, you thought very wrong.
New England got away with passing 80% of the time tonight. 50 passes vs. 13 runs. They won't get away with that if Denver's the opponent next week, I guarantee you that. Probably not even Indy. More on that tomorrow night.
And, in blind-pig-finding-an-acorn news, RamView gets the win, the cover and the over/under in the same game for the first time this postseason. I've almost matched last week's performance already!
Condolences to Ravens fans. Get that secondary shored up next season or expect to get quick-passed to death like the Rams did a lot of times this year.
Way late but on to Seattle...
-$-
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